VW To Come With A $10 Billion Diesel-Fix Plan

By the time this issue is received, Volkswagen AG will have most likely submitted a $10 billion plan the automaker says will fix a half-million emissions-cheating cars or get them off U.S. roads. This submission was to happen on June 28. Remember that the automaker is still awaiting regulators’ approval on how to retrofit the vehicles. Reportedly, under the plan, about $6.5 billion will go to car owners and $3.5 billion to the U.S. government and California regulators.

Because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) haven’t approved VW’s proposed fixes, the plan as of now includes an option for car owners to request their vehicles be repaired. But there is no timetable for doing so or a guarantee there will be an approved fix, according to reports.

Lawyers for car owners were due to submit the proposed plan to Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, who is overseeing the federal litigation. The plan will include options for car owners to sell their vehicles back to Volkswagen or to terminate their leases early. According to reports, the terms of the agreement may change before it’s submitted to the court. Judge Breyer is scheduled to consider the proposal, in the event it’s submitted on schedule, along with the carmaker’s agreements with regulators, on July 26. The judge will then decide whether to accept it.

Volkswagen is also subject to lawsuits in Germany and still faces a criminal probe there as well as in the U.S. Prosecutors in Germany are looking into allegations against a VW employee who might have encouraged other employees to delete or remove data. Prosecutors also said most of the data has been recovered in the meantime. Admissions of manipulation and allegations of cheating by other carmakers have pressured authorities to increase scrutiny of real-world emissions and fuel economy.